Waiting Game: Bitcoin Cash at Record High Ahead of Coinbase Relaunch

Bitcoin cash is resurgent today, despite some controversy over the cryptocurrency's listing on the Coinbase exchange.

As per data source CoinMarketCap, the world's third-largest cryptocurrency by market value is up 64 percent over the last 24 hours, and set a lifetime high of $3,816 soon before press time. That follows a previous high of $3,813 set around 02:00 UTC.

Notably, the price of the cryptocurrency rose sharply soon before Coinbase announced support for bitcoin cash (BCH) transactions on its platform yesterday. However, trading in BCH was quickly suspended and existing orders were canceled due to claimed "significant volatility."

Meanwhile, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has responded to allegations of insider trading over the timing of the price rise by stating that the company will be conducting an investigation into the matter and will take appropriate legal action if employees or contractors are found guilty.

Following the announcement, BCH made a retreat from the record highs, however it is always hard to make any definite link with news flow and the move looks more like a healthy technical pullback.

With BCH/USD trading set to resume today on Coinbase's GDAX trading platform, BCH may soon be looking at fresh record prices.

Bitcoin cash

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The base looks to have shifted higher to $2,400. The ascending 5-day and 10-day MAs are likely to ensure that dips are short-lived. As a result, prices could extend the rally to $4,055 (127.2 percent Fibonacci extension).
Only two consecutive day-end closes below $2,400 would abort the bullish view.

The outlook for BCH/BTC also remains bullish.

BCH/BTC chart

The above chart (prices as per Bitfinex) shows:

A bullish rising channel breakout and a sharp rise to BTC of 0.2298 yesterday – the highest level since Nov. 13.
The RSI shows room for another leg higher in BCH/BTC.
The 5-day and 10-day MAs are curled up in favor of the bulls.

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Clearly, the pair looks set to topple the Nov. 13 high of BTC 0.2561.
However, the sharp retreat from BTC 0.2298 to BTC 0.1866 indicates short-term bull market exhaustion. Hence, a sideways action around BTC 0.18 cannot be ruled out.
Only a close (as per UTC) below BTC 0.09 (Dec. 16 low) would abort the bullish view.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase.

Stopwatch image via Shutterstock

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Omkar Godbole

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